The phenomenological method begins with the examination of our "taken-for-granted" assumptions. The language we use carries with it many historical and cultural meanings of which the speaker may be unaware. Franz Fanon called for a form of radical phenomenological reduction in his fight for "postcolonial language." Structures of oppression, racism, and hate can be embedded in our current language structures and therefore need to be unpacked. This paper will closely examine language and images of the Hill District to show how seemingly benign descriptions of a community often carry with them problematic and prejudicial perceptions. I argue that code words such as "dangerous" are often used to continuede facto racial segregation in American cities decades after the end of legal segregation in the United States. A coded rhetoric of segregation and division immediately went into place at the end of the Civil Rights era. The focus of the presentation will be on the methodological research issues associated with unpacking these culturally and historically sedimented meanings.